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Syrah/Shiraz from California

Clos Mimi Winery

Established in 1996 by Tim and Mimi Spear, Clos Mimi is a "très petite" winery located in Santa Maria, California. Clos Mimi is French for "Mimi's enclosed vineyard" expressing Tim's timeless endearment to his children's mother, his wife, his business partner, his best friend and his soul mate. Inspired by the greatest "monocépage" wines of Burgundy, Côte Rotie and Hermitage, Clos Mimi is committed to vineyard designated, one hundred percent Syrah farmed by small family growers in Paso Robles and Santa Ynez.

Tim is the "vigneron" for Clos Mimi. Thanks to his traditional convictions from a previous lifetime, Tim is "très religieux" in his pursuit of natural winegrowing. In 1988, Tim had the good fortune of interning alongside a young Jean-Louis Chave in California. Three years later while spending an entire day hiking the steep vineyards of Hermitage in Jean-Louis' royal company and tasting the unblended and highly spiritual 1990 Chave Hermitage from "barrique," Tim was smitten by Syrah.

The label for Clos Mimi symbolizes everlasting love and commitment. The mark itself intimates a spiritual connection with Burgundy. The "fleur de lys" heralds the Spear Family Coat of Arms described as "argent, a thistle with three heads, stalked and leaved vert, flowered gules." The thistle is the symbol of a noble but humble heart whose honor will be defended with the sword. The color argent (white or silver) denotes peace and sincerity. The color black was borrowed from Coco Chanel (not medieval England) known for her timeless design. According to Chinese "feng shui" the color black represents career and water. The color black is believed to be powerful, thus absorbing other colors. In fact, Pierre-Auguste Renoir called black "the Queen of colors" once upon a time in Paris.
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About Other California

California has nearly 100 American Viticulture Areas (AVAs) and accounts for almost 90% of wine production in the United States. In our section of Other California, we include wines from smaller AVAs as well as wines from the California AVA. Here are a few smaller AVAs you may see on the label:

Livermore Valley AVA

, located right outside of San Francisco and home to wineries such as Wente.

Lodi County AVA

, an AVA further east of San Francisco and known for its excellent, old-vine Zinfandels.

San Francisco Bay AVA

, a sprawling AVA that covers Contra Costa, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, to name a few.
Wine that holds only the California AVA is typically a wine that includes grapes from a number of different AVAs, which leads to the general labeling of the wine as California. This does not denote the quality of the wine, only the diversity of where the grapes originate.

About California

It's not rare to see a wine's country of origin listed as "California." A country into itself in the wine world, California makes enough varieties and styles to match many European wine countries. It produces a diverse range of wines that span the quality spectrum.

The most famous of the California wine regions is Napa Valley, and these wines are certainly outstanding – but it's not as broad and diverse as its larger neighbor, Sonoma County. Down south, Santa Barbara's Santa Maria Valley is well-known for its Rhône blends, as well as cool-climate varieties like Pinot and Chardonnay. The Central Coast, the largest California AVA, has many different microclimates that lead to a wide range of wines with many sub-AVAs.

Alcohol By Volume Guide

Most wine ranges from 10-16% alcohol by volume. Some varietals tend to have higher (for example Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon) or lower alcohol levels (Pinot Noir and many white varietals), but there is always some variation from producer to producer. Some wine falls outside of this range, for instance Port weighs in closer to 20%, while Muscat and Riesling are usually a bit below 10%.

Wine Style Guide

Light & Crisp

Light to medium bodied wines that are high in acid and light to medium fruit. Typically no oak.